Chain vise

ABSTRACT

A chain vise in which a first pair of jaws are rigidly attached to a support and a second pair of jaws are pivotably attached to the support; a threaded shaft rotatably attached to the first pair of jaws is engaged with a threaded block in a second pair of jaws and when the shaft is rotated by a crank, it draws the pivotable second pair of jaws toward or away from the first pair of jaws; the shaft and crank maintains a fixed relation to the first pair of jaws which are rigidly attached to the support.

United States Patent [1 1 Giampaglia [451 Aug. 26, 1975 CHAIN VISE [76] Inventor: Anthony R. Giampaglia, 277 Delano PL, Fairview, NJ. 07022 [22] Filed: Aug. 23, 1974 [2]] Appl. No.: 500,149

[52] US. Cl. 254/67 [51] Int. Cl. B66F 3/08 [58] Field of Search .1 254/54, 67, 126, 10.5; 29/256, 238, 239

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 337,221 3/1886 Wilcox 254/126 1,051,633 1/1913 Price v 254/126 1,929,026 10/1933 Marci] 254/6'7 2,950,899 8/1960 Wilson 254/67 Primary Examin'erOthe11 M. Simpson Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Popper & Bobis [57] ABSTRACT A chain vise in which a first pair of jaws are rigidly attached to a support and a second pair of jaws are pivotably attached to the support; a threaded shaft rotatably attached to the first pair of jaws is engaged with a threaded block in a second pair of jaws and when the shaft is rotated by a crank, it draws the pivotable second pair of jaws toward or away from the first pair of jaws; the shaft and crank maintains a fixed relation to the first pair of jaws which are rigidly attached to the support.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures CHAIN VISE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention generally relates to chain vises and particularly to a chain vise wherein a crank maintains a fixed relationship to a first pair of jaws while acting to pivot a second pair of jaws.

2. Prior Art Chain vises have been in common use for years for engaging the ends of chains together so that they may be attached. Marcil US. Pat. No. 1,929,026; Tollestrup US. Pat. No. 1,250,245; Speer US. Pat. No. 398,286; Foust US. Pat. No. 3,108,783; Wilson US. Pat. No. 2,950,899. It is often desirable to bring the ends of a chain together so that a connecting link may be inserted in such ends to make the chain one continuous loop. The devices available are frequently difficult to operate and the manipulation of a crank may cause the crank to come into interferring engagement with a pivotal jaw of the chain vise.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It has been found that a chain vise can be constructed wherein the manipulation of the crank does not cause it to come into interfering engagement with the jaws of the vise; such chain vise construction is capable of exerting great force to pull the ends of the chain together; such chain vise may be simple in construction, easy to operate, and durable.

THE DRAWINGS These objects and advantages as well as other objects and advantages may be achieved by the device shown by way of illustration of the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the chain vise with jaws together;

FIG. 2 is a right-end elevational view of the device;

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional vertical view taken on the line 3-3 in FIG. 1 looking into the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 4 is a side-vertical elevational view of the device engaged with a chain with the jaws partially separated.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings in detail, my chain vise provides a Support 11 for a pair of fixed front and rear jaws 12, 13 and a pair of pivotable front and rear jaws; only the front pivotable jaw 14 is shown, but a corresponding rear jaw is behind the front jaw 14 and is the reverse of the rear fixed jaw 13.

The fixed jaws 12, 13 are both rigidly attached to the support 11 by a pair of pins 15, so that they will not pivot with respect to the support 11 and will always maintain the same relation thereto. The pair of pivotable jaws are each attached to the support 11 by a pivot pins 15 so that the pivotable jaws may each pivot with respect to the support 1 1. The fixed jaws 12, 13 are deflected toward each other as shown in FIG. 2, at bent portions 16 until they touch, and then straight end portions 17 touch each other in parallelism. The parallel end portions 17 are secured together by a rivet 18. Likewise the fixed front jaw 14 and its rear counterpart are deflected toward each other by bent portions 16 until their straight end portions 17 touch each other in parallelism. The end portion of the front pivotable jaw l4 and the end portions of the rear pivotable jaw are also secured together by a rivet 19.

Both fixed and pivotable of jaws are provided with hooked ends 20, defining seats for-the opposite ends of a chain 21. A gap between the hooked ends 20 .is sufficiently large to permit the passage of a chain-link hub.

Each of the pairs of front and rear jaws is connected to pivotable chambered blocks 22, 22a by threaded pins 23. These pins 23 engage threaded passages in the jaws l2, 13, etc. The pins 23 are held in place by lock nuts 24. Each threaded pin 23, is proved with a smooth, axle, end-portion 25 which serves as a pivotable mountings for the blocks 22, by entering a smooth passage 26 therein. Thereby the pivotable jaws are able to pivot. The block 22 is provided with a central threaded passage 29. The block 22a which is attached to the fixed jaws 12, 13, has a smooth unthreaded bore 29. The threads on the shaft 27 end at the block 22a, and there is a smooth unthreaded reduced diameter section on the shaft where it passes through the block 22a. The bore of the block 22a has an internal diameter slightly less than the diameter of the threaded portion of the shaft 27, so that the threaded portion of the shaft 27 cannot enter the bore in the block 22a.

The shaft 27 is provided with a crank 28, which affirmatively positions the smooth section in the bore of the shaft 27. The rotation of the shaft 27, by the crank 28, moves the pivotable jaws to and from the fixed jaws 12, 13. The fixed jaws 12, 13 always maintain the same general position with respect to the crank 28, i.e., always approximately perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the shaft 27, so that the rotation of the crank 28 is never interfered with as would be the case if the jaws 12, 13 were pivotable instead of fixed to the support 11. Only the pivotable jaws move with respect to the crank and shaft 27 and they cannot interfere with the rotation of the crank 28.

In operation, the roller bearing opposite ends of a chain are engaged with the hooked ends 20; the crank 28 is rotated to draw the jaws together until the chain ends are sufficiently close to permit a connector link to be inserted in both ends of the chain, and a cap is applied, thus joining the chain into one continuous loop.

What is claimed is:

1. A chain vise comprising:-

a. a support for pairs of jaws,

b. a pair of first members rigidly attached at their ends to opposite sides of the support, and defining a fixed jaw,

, c. a pair of second members attached pivotably at their ends to opposite sides of the support, and defining a pivotable jaw,

d. the opposite end of each pivotable and fixed jaw provided with hooks defining opposed seats for the ends of chains, so that the ends of chains positioned on the seats may be drawn together, by manipulating the jaws,

. the opposite ends of each pair of first members and the opposite ends of each pair of second members rigidly secured together,

f. a first block having a threaded central bore rotatably attached to the pivotable jaw, generally in spaced relation to both of the opposite ends of the pivotable jaw,

. a second block having a smooth central bore rotatably attached to the fixed jaw in spaced relation to both of the opposite ends of the fixed jaw,

h. a threaded shaft engaged with the threaded central bore of the first block,

i. an unthreaded end on the shaft rotatable in the smooth central bore of the second block,

j. a crank attached to the shaft at its unthreaded end end portion are in threaded engagement with each jaw,

. the positions of the fixed and pivotable jaws adjacent to the hooks being deflected toward each other, the hooks being in general parallelism with each other, and positions of the jaws adjacent to the first and second blocks are in general parallelism with each other. 

1. A chain vise comprising:a. a support for pairs of jaws, b. a pair of first members rigidly attached at their ends to opposite sides of the support, and defining a fixed jaw, c. a pair of second members attached pivotably at their ends to opposite sides of the support, and defining a pivotable jaw, d. the opposite end of each pivotable and fixed jaw provided with hooks defining opposed seats for the ends of chains, so that the ends of chains positioned on the seats may be drawn together, by manipulating the jaws, e. the opposite ends of each pair of first members and the opposite ends of each pair of second members rigidly secured together, f. a first block having a threaded central bore rotatably attached to the pivotable jaw, generally in spaced relation to both of the opposite ends of the pivotable jaw, g. a second block having a smooth central bore rotatably attached to the fixed jaw in spaced relation to both of the opposite ends of the fixed jaw, h. a threaded shaft engaged with the threaded central bore of the first block, i. an unthreaded end on the shaft rotatable in the smooth central bore of the second block, j. a crank attached to the shaft at its unthreaded end whereby the rotation of the shaft adjusts the position of the pivotable jaws in relation to the fixed jaw, k. the first and second blocks rotatably attached to the jaws, by being mounted on pairs of axles whose end portion are in threaded engagement with each jaw, l. the positions of the fixed and pivotable jaws adjacent to the hooks being Deflected toward each other, the hooks being in general parallelism with each other, and positions of the jaws adjacent to the first and second blocks are in general parallelism with each other. 